Kumble's Haul of Fame on 7 Feb'99

Any sporting record that lasts over 40 years has got to be very very special -- and the effort that equals it, or tops it, has to be applauded to the rooftops.

Today, it was Anil Kumble whose name rings from the rafters -- an analysis that reads 26.3-9-74-10 being the reason why.
On February 7, 1999, Anil Kumble took all the 10 Pakistan wickets in the second Test at the Feroz shah Kotla, in New Delhi and in the process he wrote his name into the annals of cricket folklore and history. Kumble emulated Englishman Jim Laker's feat, finishing with 10-74 from 26.3 overs against Pakistan. The feat was made all the more special since as it was against arch-rival Pakistan, and that too the Test series was the first on Indian soil between the two teams in 12 years.

Kumble's brilliance saw India crush Pakistan by 212 runs in the second Test in New Delhi and square the short two-match series.

Virat Kohli gets out as HIT-WICKET

In a rare occasion, Indian test skipper Virat Kohli was become the victim of a kind of dismissal which is usually not seen everytime.

Virat Kohli gets hit wicket out, 2nd Indian skipper after Lala Amarnath

Today he got Hit-wicket out on the english spinner Rashid's ball when he was trying to pull the ball towards square of the wicket and his left foot disturbed the stumps and bails were dislodged. At that time, India were 361-5 and they had already been lost the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane.

In 2233 test, Virat kohli is the 22nd batsman to be out hit-wicket and 2nd Indian skipper after Lala Amarnath. The last batsman who suffered the fate was VVS Laxman that too 14 years ago.

DRS made its way to India

After the long wait of eight years, today Decision Review System aka DRS has been officially made its way to India which is being used in the current ongoing test series between India and England.

DRS officially launched in India

Though the system was first tested in an India vs Sri Lanka match in 2008 where Virender Sehwag became the first victim. It was officially launched by the International Cricket Council on 24 November 2009 during the first Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan.
Later in January 2011, it was first time used in ODI during England's tour of Australia.

DRS Procedure:

STEP-1: First of all, on field umpire refers a team's call to third umpire for the review and the third umpire has to check that whether the decision is given by the on field umpire is correct or not.

STEP-2: Then the third umpire check the front foot of the bowler to find whether the delivery was legal or not. If the ball is legal then umpire moves toward the batsman end and if this does not happen then it is called as NO Ball.

STEP-3: At the batsman end, umpire checks if there any edge produced or not or ball just hit directly onto the pad by ULTRA EDGE technology with help of SNICOMETER.

STEP-4: In the next step, Hawk-eye is also used to check the edge.

STEP-5: Now Ball tracking system comes into action which shows the trajectory and best possible path of the ball. Now a days this technology improves a lot as some time ago the path was being decided by the operator not automatically but now it is completely depend on different cameras that produce 340 frames per second to track everything which happening with the ball.

STEP-6: After seeing all this, the third umpire refers the decision back to either on field umpire or shows on the big screen.

This technology shows how difficult is umpiring. This is not an easy job. As even the decision is given with the help of DRS has to be finished within few minutes.

#OTD in 2001, Sehwag debuted in 'White Jersey'

His batting Style was completely different and unorthodox than others. That's why Sourav Ganguly, former captain of Indian side, said about him "He changed the definition of being an opener. "

Here is talking about none other than the fear of the bowlers, Virender Sehwag, the man who revolutionised the role of the opener in Test cricket. He was made his test debut on the very same day in 2001 against South Africa where he was batted on number 6th position and blasted a hundred in the debut match, India were lost that match by 9 wickets though but they have been found an star in that match.

Although, Viru has already been made his ODI debut back in 1999. seeing his batting style, he was only kept considering as an one-day player but later, Soon he broke that myth. The then coach John Wright and Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly promoted him as an opener and he also did not let them disappoint as he made a quick 84 runs at Lords in 2002. That Innings cleared his batting position in the team.

He is the only triple centurion in Tests for India having scored career-best knock of 319 against Pakistan & also one of those rare batsmen to have scored two triple ton with his next one (309) coming against South Africa.


Here are the three of his best innings in Test cricket:

309, Multan, 2004: At Multan on March 29, 2004 Nawab of Najafgarh became first India to ever score a triple century. He scored a marvelous 309 against arch rivals Pakistan to set up India's first Test win in Pakistan. It was this Test match which gave Sehwag the nick name 'Multan ka Sultan'.

319, Chennai, 2008: With Virender Sehwag, it was all in or nothing. And he proved that against South Africa in Chennai on March 28, 2008 as he blasted the fastest Test triple-century, off 278 deliveries. Opposition coach Mickey Arthur termed it the 'best Test innings he has ever seen'. Crushing and grinding bowlers with his majestic batting it still remains the highest Test score by an Indian.

293, Mumbai, 2009: Sehwag who has scored and destroyed every bowler in the world tool the attack to the most successful Test bowler in this one -- Muttiah Muralitharan. Sehwag in this particular Test match had hit a total of 47 boundaries that included 40 fours and seven sixes. During this innings it broke a number of records - most double-centuries by an Indian, second-highest number of 250-plus scores and most runs by and Indian in a day. Victory also took India to No. 1 in the rankings.

In a glorious intl. career spanning over 12 years, the swashbuckling opener played 104 tests scoring 8586 runs at an impressive average of just a little over 49, including 23 Centuries and 32 fifties.

Now a days, like his batting form, the stalwart is busy in showing his funny bones on the mic and is buzzing all around specially among his fans.

FINALLY, I would say, I don't think there will be another Virender Sehwag.

Indian test Squad against England announced

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the 15-member squad in Mumbai for the first two test matches in a 5- matches Test series at home against England as the tour is beginning from November 9.

MSK Prasad, the chief of selectors, addressed a press conference in Mumbai and mentioned that they Preferred Hardik Pandya over anyone else even though he is not played that much FC cricket.

Stating Further he reckoned, "at one point of time we all have to agree that we need to identify good all-rounders. After the Australia A tour, his pace has increased, he's able to move the ball and his batsmanship has improved. Rahul Dravid has worked on his mind and techniques and now Anil kumble is guiding him which made me ahead of other contenders."

Delhi's Ranji team skipper Gautam Gambhir retained his spot in the squad as an opener after KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan failed to recover from their injuries. Karun Nayar has been taken in for Rohit sharma who is struggling from a hamstring problem. Pacer Ishant sharma also gets succeeded to make his comeback after an injury.
India are currently ranked No.1 in after thrashing New Zealand 3-0 at home last month. This series though is expected to be a stiffer test for the home side after England beat them 2-1 in 2012 on their previous tour.

India squad (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Gautam Gambhir, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav.

India vs England 2016: Fixtures, schedule & More

India and England are going to play a crucial Test series beginning from November 9 in India which can prove to be another tough tour of the sub-continent for the English team. The english side is touring India after levelling the series by 1-1 against Bangladesh which they might soon want to be forgotten as their performance was proved disaster as they had too many loopholes in that series and now seeking to exhibit their winning-will.

Whilst India, which has been blanked New Zealand 3-0 in a three-match Test series last month at their own soil, will be felt high on confidence and will look to continue their series winning form against a struggling England side to improve their points in the points table as currently INDIA are the No.1 test side.

Players to be watched out:

1.Kohli - Anderson:
Kohli , who is now leading Indian test side , has been become the backbone of the side for last 3-4 years no matter whether that is a test, ODI or T-20. There is no doubt that he is among the top five batsmen like Williamson (NZ), Joe Root(Eng), Hashim Amla(SA) and Smith(Aus) of the cricket world at the current time while Anderson has been established himself as a first key of the english pace attack over the years. So it will interesting to see them playing against each-other.

2. Ashwin - Root:
When Joe Root, who is currently the best batsman in the english side, will face the Indian spin attack warrior Ashwin who is recently completed his 200 test wickets then that will be a perfect moment to see the battle between the ball and bat.

"The Indian team is to be picked in Mumbai tomorrow," BCCI sources told PTI on Tuesday.

The forthcoming tour will start from November 9 at Rajkot and will end at Chennai. That will be a 5-matches test series and 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is later in the year.

Fixtures:
 Test:-
1st Test: November 9-13
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

2nd Test: November 17-21
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vizag (Play start 0930 hrs IST)

3rd Test: November 26-30
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

4th Test: December 8-12
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Play starts 0930 hrs IST)

5th Test: December 16-20
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Play starts 0930 IST)

One-Day:-
1st ODI: January 15 – Pune
2nd ODI: January 19 – Cuttack
3rd ODI: January 22 – Kolkata

T-20I:-
1st T20I: January 26 – Kanpur
2nd T20I: January 29 – Nagpur
3rd T20I: February 1 – Bengaluru

Gambhir & Team India eye to make it large

Gautam Gambhir, the left-hand opener is all set to return in white jersey for the Indian side after a gap of two years who is now replacing KL Rahul for the remaining two tests.

Kohli and Gambhir during Net practice at Eden Gardens

KL Rahul has been ruled out from the current ongoing series after getting injured his hamstring during Kanpur test. Later, Gambhir, who has been in good form at the domestic level as he made four consecutive fifties in the Duleep Trophy with an average more than 70,  but he was ignored and is now prompted to represent the national side again.

Currently, India , which have been won its Kanpur test by 197 runs , which was also the 500th test for India, is now looking to have unassailable lead by winning the forthcoming test at Eden gardens, Kolkata. Apart from Gautam Gambhir, the 26-year-old Haryana off spinner-batsman Jayant Yadav is included in 15-members squad , who is in for unfit Ishant Sharma.

If talk about the pitch of Eden gardens,   Pacers may enjoy a good outing at there especially on the first two days as there is cover of green grass on it. Spinners may come into play on the third day.

500th Test Match: A Landmark for India

The Forthcoming Test match between India and New Zealand at Kanpur is the test match number 500th for Indian Cricket team. It took more than eight decades to India to achieve the milestone. Also, The first test host ground, Green park at Kanpur is set to host its 499th test.

UPCA set to welcome team India for 500th test.

Credit: UPCA twitter handle

Team India have been played 499 test matches so far, in which 129 matches were won by them with 47% success rate and 157 lost and 212 were drawn.

     From 1932 to Sep 2016, a few major achievements of team India have been enumerated here. Where in 1932, India started to play test cricket. In 1999, veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble who is now the chief coach of Indian team took 10 wickets in an innings with broken Jaw. In 2000, 'The wall' Rahul Dravid and wrist master VVS Laxman , together made a record shuttering partnership against Australia and Turbunator Harbhajan singh took a Hat-trick. In 2004, Sehwag best known for his attacking-batting-attitude, became the first Indian to make a triple century in a test and tagged as "Multan ka Sultan" after his compelling batting performance against Pakistan. In 2013, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar called it a day from Test cricket after playing 200 test matches. The 200th test was against West Indies and in 2016, India set to play 500th test.

India's test cricket journey.

courtesy: Times of India(pic)

If we talk about the Captaincy, Some stats about the Indian test captains,

Without spinner one can't imagine the shape of test cricket. Spinners always make test cricket more interesting. Here are some greatest spinners from India,

     Moreover, to make the 500th test memorable, BCCI instructed the hotel in which both the teams stays  that it will serve 500 types of dishes to the players and management for all the five days according to the schedule.

Apart from this, Among those who will be present at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium are Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni.
Good Luck TEAM INDIA for 500th test !

Has Gambhir 'Forcefully' ignored ?

Four consecutive half-centuries as captain with the scores of 77, 59, 90 and 94 in the 2016 edition of Duleep Trophy can describe the hunger of making runs in the left-hand southpaw Gautam Gambhir. The unsung hero of the 2011 world cup final, who is turning 35 years-old next month still have the same strike on the ball, is currently out of the national squad ever since he made 3 runs versus England in his last test which was played two summers ago.

Gambhir did not consider for test series against NZ

The selection committee led by Sandeep Patil, who has now been left selection committee, chose following squad for test series against New Zealand which kicks start from 22 September :

Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav

There were quite a few eyebrows raised after the selectors announced their 15-member squad, Apart from Stuart Binny and Mumbai uncapped pacer Shardul Thakur who were in the squad for west indies tour, rest team is same. After being not considered for test squad, disappointed Gambhir post a quote on microblogging website twitter to express his view.

Some might raise fingers on the selectors' decision to award another chance to Rohit sharma and Shikhar Dhawan! They can ask questions to selectors because they (Rohit & Shikhar) both are considerably failed to show what they have been done in shorter format of the cricket after performing well in thier initial stage of test cricket. But, even after repeated failure, selection committee again showed their Blind-belief  upon these two openers.
Given the fact, both these openers are enjoying backing of Virat kohli in test cricket. One can assume that, in this whole scenario there is a name behind the existence of Gauti from test side may be or may not be of Virat Kohli ! Who was involved in a rift that was taken place in between him and Gautam Gambhir during an IPL match that too was not last forever between them. His relations with MS Dhoni is also not so good either. Which might cost him to secure a place in the national side even after a successful domestic journey as he garnered 488 runs in Ranji Trophy and more than 500 runs in IPL, which made him fourth-highest-run-getter in this season of Indian Premier League.
The road ahead looks not much smoother for Gambhir, who will now have to come up with something extraordinary in the Ranji Trophy that starts on 6 October to gain the attention of new selection chief.

Untill that happens, fans have to support him in this rough phase of his career and let him have a little hope.